more than

" you are more than the choices that you’ve made
you are more than the sum of your past mistakes
you are more than the problems you create
you’ve been remade " ,

entitled ' you are more ' & just now hearing this song today, i must say it is wonderful. a solid lyrical reminder for those listening to hold your Faith knowing you really are more than .

yay!

our carpet is home ! ...  link to our CatBlog  for post : )

making the switch

our thoughts based on our experience with satellite television. we have since found a better solution. an alternative to high bills and the avalanche of shows overflowing 'package deals' . we were not asked by a company to review alternative media products, lol. posted by my own free will : )

dearest satellite television: your service has been a ?friend? for some years now. what, with your blinding endless channels of program viewing. and your monthly love letters we receive. you have been so unknowingly helpful with your customer support and friendly service. and, oh how we love your option of paying 5.oo to watch a movie because we do not subscribe to THAT channel. however, we appreciate that you have allowed us to watch ALL 5 of our favorite channels over the years simply by offering no choice but to buy your package deal THOSE 5 channels happen to be placed within. clever, on your part. your online guide is amazing; all those mind blurring channels you have allowed us access to skim. oh how we enjoy the headrush of scrolling thru endless shows, 3/4 of which are nonsense and , in our opinion, contributing to the downfall of youth television not to mention the brain function of the adult community. OH, and the commercials. gotta love em. my ears ring in harmony when the ads are pitched in a volume 5 times greater than the actual show. my mute button has never been used so much.
thank you for your entertainment value which if i were to create a ratio of such it would rank 1:100 as your programs are only worth a hundreth to the love letters you send us each month; those letters so generously demanding their share of our complete viewing pleasure.

well, in the visual of the television Mop commercial who has gracefully been replaced, so have you, satellite. are you shocked that we will save 80.00 a month from dropping you? and don't try and sell us on the 10.00 discount if we stay with you. please! and guess what, you are being replaced with consumer friendly entertainment whose love letters arrive with a note of 7.99/ month. no more scrolling thru endless stupid shows listed on the guide; which we had to pay for . now, we will be able to pick what we want to watch, when we want to watch, and not be polluted with an overflow of programming that serves no purpose. please dont plea to us about the sports programs or other packages as such we will miss out on; we are not a sports watching family! we do not buy into your package deal any longer. now, who is your conqueror you ask? did i mention 7.99 month? easily and manualy installed onesself, the Roku player (the cost of one unit is lower than our satelitte monthly love letter) has the capability to pause shows, limit commercials, and put us back in control of what is coming through our television. So, you ask, what programming has won us over? two names have beat you out, NetFlix and Hulu Plus. ah, don't make fun of their names. don't be envious; be happy that customers who have been true to you for so long will now be treated better! be happy for us. we will save 80.00 month, that is close to 1,000 a year (even more since we had to pay 5.00 per movie with you) . and that 1,000 will go into a great cause; savings for our adoption of our son! see, it is something to be very excited about. a friendly suggestion, you may want to consider more options, satellite tv- i must say, as a former friend, the friendly Roku player is your competitor now. it allows Netflix and Hulu Plus to be watched directly thru our televisions. in conclusion: there are five factors that concreted our decision to let you go; saving money each month to be put toward our adoption of our little boy from Ethiopia- that one wins hands down, control of our television viewing, no hassle programming, choice, and did i mention, oh yes i think i did, saving money. take care satellite tv. i think many more will be letting you go in the near future as well. oh yes, of course those who have to have thier 'packages' will stay with you. but those who see the pros of the Roku and the savings will see the light; symbolically the light weight love letter they receive each month compared to your hefty one.

the above is our opinion only. it obviously does not reflect the population at large. we are one family who has decided to make the switch. for us, it is logical and practical. our choice. and, it works for our family. oh yeh, and so how does this particular post tie-in to our adoption- two words, Saving Money! we also recently ixnayed xm radio- a savings of 170.00/year. it ALL adds up.

star light. star bright.

... one & one-half months & we begin our journey to the second phase of our adoption timeline : )

so where exactly are we in our adoption process?
it has officially been 1 year since we made our decision to adopt from Ethiopia.
we made our decision in jan., 2010. as everyone is aware that was when the economy was in the 'eye' of its' flop. this affected our decision to postpone getting started, slightly; because one of our steps toward our adoption is refinancing our home to use some of our equity. well, with the market being at a standstill at that time we decided to focus on another project, which was to finish reconstruction of our garage into a bedroom. our bedroom; as our 'old' room will now be for our son. so, we spent a good part of 2010 working on the room. it was a step toward being prepared for our home appraisal as well. it must be completed first. and i am happy to say our room has been built; which included some sore muscles and some sweat on our part which involved constructing an entire new floor base, removing all old interior trim that had once been part of the garage (thanks B) hanging new drywall, taping & mudding it, two coats of paint, creating a closet and now... as of Monday , we will be able to pay off our carpet which is being held hostage and get in down in our room. we have done all of this with our own two hands. wouldnt have it any other way. so what does this mean. well, it means that the appraisal is just around the corner (originally we had hoped to get it done by the first of the year, but with property taxes, bills, paying off the carpet, and christmas, well, it had to be postponed a bit longer, since the appraisal itself it not cheap). the market is picking back up and we are ready to go for it. with the economy it is a guessing game, but we know whatever part of our equity we can get back, is better than none and will enable us to start with our homestudy plus get some agency fees paid. i continue to do seasonal fund raiser projects. we both have concrete faith that we need not worry about the lot of adoption fees ahead but rather be firm in our belief that God does provide. our purpose is to adopt our little boy from ethiopia, keeping him safe, and we firmly walk hand and hand knowing that one day he will be here with us, cozied up under a safe fuzzy blanket, cuddling his parents; and if truth be known he will probably prefer to stay in his mom & dads room for some time as we adjust , the one that was built toward the dream of his homecoming, versus his own room. and , well, that is just a-okay with us! a-okay X a zillion. because mommy cant wait for all those snuggles & hugs, looking around our room remembering our goal, and realizing it has come to be while snuggled within my arms .

hope endures in Lincolns symbolic shadow

Happy birthday Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. !!

sidenote: i came across a blog post today i would like to link to Here ; one siblings' words for his brother.

lullaby

walking our path

in reference to the following graceful poem, the line 'the other prayed for a child, And God led her straight to you' intrigues me from two angles. while we were ttc (trying to conceive), adoption was not the 'safety net' for us and it did not enter our minds as such. when we miscarried, something changed. instantly. see, I could and did conceive; I was pregnant for a short time. when we miscarried, something transformed. had we decided to continue ttc , chances are we may get pregnant again. after the m/c, something immediately abruptly awoke within myself. we no longer try to conceive & our precautions are concreted. it was as if we knew all along that we needed to walk the path of adoption. to find our son. to give him, to give us, the family as, for us, it was intended.our first choice was within us all along; it just took awhile to see it.God has led our hearts.
the unknown authors poem of love reads:
' Once there were two women, Who never knew each other.One you do not remember, The other you call mother.Two different lives. Shaped to make yours one,
One became your guiding star, The other became your sun.The first gave you life, And the second taught you to live it.And the first gave you a need for love, And the second was there to give it.One gave you a nationality. The other gave you a name.One gave you the seeds of talent, The other gave you aim.One gave you emotions, The other calmed your fears.One saw your first sweet smile, The other dried your tears.One gave you up, It was all that she could do.The other prayed for a child, And God led her straight to you.And now you ask me through your tears, The age old question through the years.Heredity or environment, Which are you a product of?Neither, my Darling, Neither, Just two different kinds of love ' .
-Author Unknown

Merry Christmas Ethiopia

Beautiful celebration at

Lalibela ;

video footage.

Christmas in Ethiopia is called 'Ganna' and is celebrated on January 7.